Guo Ziming scrutinized Tao Yue with a cold and calculating gaze, completely unlike his usual carefree and irresponsible self.
After a long pause, he said calmly, "I understand. I hope you won't say anything inappropriate."
Tao Yue said awkwardly, "Don't worry, I won't say anything to Ayan."
Guo Ziming said no more and strode away.
He knew Tao Yue's feelings for Su Yan. Besides, she was Su Yan's god-sister. Otherwise, if it were someone else, he would have eliminated the problem long ago.
Seeing him walk away, Tao Yue breathed a barely perceptible sigh of relief, touched her chest, and felt her heart beating very fast.
She really didn't expect Guo Ziming to have such a terrifying side.
From this perspective, she would still prefer that Ayan reconcile with Jiang Jingxing as soon as possible.
At the very least, the Jiang family is small, and Old Master Jiang and Jiang Jingxing are genuinely good to Ayan. Moreover, the Jiang family's status is above the Guo family's, and Jiang Jingxing has the ability to protect Ayan.
Su Yan, busy in the kitchen, was completely unaware of Tao Yue's worries. She was in a real bind, having to prepare a lot of dishes tonight.
Tonight's meal consists of ten dishes and one soup.
Chicken and fish are indispensable on the dinner table. The chicken is prepared using the method of kiln-roasted chicken, and the fish is used to make sweet and sour fish.
There's also braised beef brisket with tomatoes, braised beef, medicinal yam and lamb rib soup, braised lamb, braised pork belly with preserved mustard greens, deep-fried meatballs, steamed egg with tofu and minced meat, stuffed cabbage with meat, and a mushroom and chicken soup.
The staple food is dumplings with various meat fillings.
The dumplings we eat during Chinese New Year are different from the ones we eat at other times. When making dumplings for Chinese New Year, we put coins inside. If you find a coin in a dumpling, the coming year will definitely be prosperous.
If you eat dumplings with sweet filling, every day of the coming year will be sweet.
At 5 p.m., Tao Jin and Xie Jin, the three fellow apprentices, were all brought to the kitchen to help.
The four grown men had never cooked before, so they could only help wash vegetables and serve dishes.
Guo Ziming stood beside Su Yan with a plate in his hand, his eyes occasionally lingering on her delicate profile, his heart in turmoil.
"Senior brother, give me the plate."
Su Yan stretched out her hand for a while, but the person next to her still didn't move.
She looked up, frowning, and said, "Senior brother, what are you daydreaming about? Is there something you haven't finished? Or perhaps you..."
"No!" Guo Ziming immediately snapped out of his thoughts, shoved the plate into her hands, and said without changing his expression, "I was thinking about your sister-in-law's treatment plan, and I got a little lost in thought."
Hearing this, Su Yan smiled and said, "Today is the New Year, let's celebrate the New Year first, and we can talk about other things after the New Year. Don't put so much pressure on yourself."
The girl's voice was soft and sweet, tinged with a hint of helplessness.
Guo Ziming noticed that his heart was beating extremely fast.
He could never control his heart when he was with her.
Even if she just raises an eyebrow, his eyes always unconsciously drift towards her.
"Okay, I understand."
Xie Jin, who was washing vegetables in the back, teased, "Junior sister, it's rare to see your third senior brother so serious, you should cherish it."
Su Yan rolled her eyes. "What's so precious about that? I still prefer when my third senior brother is being carefree and joking around with me. I'm not used to him being too serious."
Guo Ziming pursed his lips and remained silent.
After washing the vegetables, the four of them had nothing else to do, so Li Juan pulled them together to make dumplings.
Such delicate work was beyond the capabilities of four people, and the dumplings they made were neither fish nor fowl.
However, Ye Feixu has obsessive-compulsive disorder. At first, he didn't know how to wrap dumplings. Later, he learned Li Juan's technique and eventually wrapped dumplings that were uniform in shape and size and very beautiful.
Li Juan said in surprise, "You learn things really fast!"
Xie Jin and his two companions used up seven or eight dumpling wrappers, but the dumplings still didn't turn out quite right.
As a result of her words, the competitive spirit of the three men instantly ignited, and they began to secretly compete to see who could wrap the best-looking bag, and every now and then they would deliberately ask Li Juan if her bag looked good.
Su Yan burst out laughing when she saw this.
It seems that even four fully mature men aren't without their childish side.
It's 6:30 in the evening.
It took me almost three hours to prepare ten dishes, a soup, and a dumpling.
The cooked dishes were kept warm on the wood-fired stove, so they were still hot.
After the dishes were laid out on the dining table, Li Juan immediately went to the door to set off firecrackers.
Li Juan wasn't familiar with the customs in Beijing, but she followed the customs of Lanzhou, where firecrackers were set off before every meal on New Year's Eve and the Spring Festival, symbolizing prosperity and abundance year after year.
Six packs of firecrackers were set off, and incense was offered before the meal was officially served.
Su Yan's cooking skills were impeccable, and everyone ate heartily, so engrossed in stuffing their mouths that they didn't have time to talk or chat.
Even the Tao family, who had tasted all sorts of delicacies, were impressed by her culinary skills.
While other families' New Year's dinner tables were filled with laughter and joy, they were only focused on eating, but the atmosphere was wonderful.
Fortunately, the portions of each dish were very large, otherwise Su Yan would have worried that there wouldn't be enough to eat.
Nianyu's mouth was stuffed full, and she mumbled, "Gugu is so delicious! I want to eat Gugu's cooking every day!"
Su Yan patted her head and said happily, "Okay, Nianyu, just tell your aunt what you want, and your aunt will make it for you."
"Wow!" Nianyu's eyes darted around, then she asked, "Auntie, can I play with fireworks?"
Before Su Yan could speak, Su Yu, a doting father, immediately agreed, "Okay, after dinner, Daddy will take you to set off fireworks!"
"Yay! Daddy is so good! I love Daddy!" Nianyu couldn't stop smiling.
These words made Su Yu overjoyed, and he kept calling her his darling daughter.
Even Li Juan couldn't stand the cloying sweetness anymore, and said with a sullen laugh, "Can't you eat in a normal way?"
Everyone burst into laughter, teasing Su Yu for being a doting father.
Su Yu was also very proud.
This was the first time that Grandpa Jiang had ever felt such a warm New Year.
Before, when he was at home, Jingxing rarely came back for New Year's Eve dinner because of Qin Qin and Jiang Changzheng. His grandfather would have someone pack the food and take it to the army base to eat with him. This had been the way for many years.
Now, thinking about his grandson spending the Lunar New Year alone in the hospital, he can't help but feel heartbroken and distressed.
His grandson has suffered too much since he was a child.
The lively dinner table was accompanied by fireworks exploding and popping outside, creating a heartwarming scene.
For some reason, Su Yan thought of Jiang Jingxing, and suddenly her mood sank, her nose felt a little sore, and she lost her appetite, putting down her chopsticks.
Seeing this, Guo Ziming quickly asked, "Junior Sister, are you full?"
She smiled and said, "I ate too much roasted chicken this afternoon, and now I'm too full for all this delicious food. But it's okay, you guys eat. I'm going out to digest and buy some fireworks for the kids."
Before Guo Ziming could say anything, she had already gotten up and left.
However, he couldn't chase after them at this point, otherwise people would inevitably notice something amiss.
Su Yu felt that his sister was acting strangely, so he put down his chopsticks and stood up. "I'll go with her. It's not safe to go at night."
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